By
Heidi Trautmann
For
the audience it was literally the Première of the new Çatalköy Belediye Theatre,
the ‘Erol Avgören Cultural Centre’ celebrated with the new play by ‘Tiyatro Su’
and at the same time the start of the 4th Beşparmak Theatre Festival
on 17 March 2014. Erol Avgören is the supporter and sponsor of the new theatre.
It
was also the realisation of a dream, Derman Atik’s dream to have a proper
theatre in Çatalköy, the place he has chosen to live with his family, and the
place where he has met with an equally art and culture bitten mayor Mehmet
Hulusioğlu who supports Derman Atik and his ideas of art and culture in Çatalköy.
They have succeeded.
The
new theatre building is in the heart of the village, the old village cinema
revamped, I had the occasion to visit with Derman Atik, when the theatre was
still his dream. I have recorded his dream with an absurd photo, Derman and the
many chairs he promised to fill one day.
A
well planned project, I thought, when I approached the theatre from the
Belediye parking place via a newly established walk way leading to the entrance
of the theatre. The mayor greeted the guests flocking into the Foyer with a big
smile and a handshake, obviously very proud of the new acquisition, the foyer a
comfortable room with the history of the theatre group Tiyatro SU in one corner
and a bar counter where the guests would have drinks; this time it was the
mayor himself who handed out mugs of tea.
By
two entrances the auditorium is entered, a room in deep red, providing seats
for about two hundred people, and it goes without saying that the house was
full in-spite of the heavy rains that might have hindered many to come.
The
play Padisah-I Hal-I Osman, an absurd comedy by Üstün Dökmen and adapted by
Derman Atik, transports us back to Ottoman times with references to todays’
conflicts in North Cyprus, the dreams of a pasha to conquer the world. When I
last spoke to Serife Eminaga, one of the theatre group members, she said that
they were about 35 of them, and they have all participated in the new play,
celebrating the beginning of a new era.
The
acoustic was fantastic, in the last rows up there just beneath the lighting
room, every soft spoken word could be understood. The stage a deep space…..and
it was filled with dance and ottoman life style; lovely costumes all made by
the members. A word-intensive play, especially the interrelations with modern
times brought laughter from the audience. A great show, the way Derman Atik
loves it, he loves the absurd, as he once told me. He is not only the director
but is also on stage acting as one of the advisors, with Çenk Gürçağ as the
Padişah; the male actors have grown beards for the roles to make them look wise
and important.
At
the end of the show, the mayor came up onto the stage and in his modest way he
thanked everybody. We wish them luck and many good years of successful theatre
life.
When
I left the new theatre and turned around to take a picture of the façade the
full moon stood over the building, the heavy rain had stopped; and people went
home happily. The theatre festival continues with plays by other Cyprus theatre
groups from across the island, the northern part, see the cultural calendar of
Cyprus Observer or on my website where there are also some more photos.